I don't get the abiding love for Darkwing Duck. Has it aged like wine or something

Not particularly, no. On average, the show is a fourth place to Duck Tales, Talespin, and even Rescue Rangers, and its poorer episodes are a bit cringe-worthy in retrospect --but when it shines, it's amazing, second only to Talespin's best moments.

The character concept and cast could also do wonderful things when spruced up to post-Genndy, post-Gravity Falls sensibilities.

Now that's the cartoon I remember: Warmed-over slapstick with some decent punchlines here and there. IIRC the kid sidekick was especially grating. (e: I will chalk at least part of that up to being older than the target audience when it came out)

It's good that today's animators are doing the shows they thought they were watching as kids.

Re: Darkwing Duck. I think it indirectly helped usher in Batman: TAS somewhat, as it treaded similar ground in a more comic fashion. I also quite liked the Boom comics from many years back. That ended right about when Disney bought Marvel. There's a new comic series this year, but I hadn't seen it yet.

I didn't think Gosalyn was ever all that bad. The cast was small as it was, she tended to be helpful as much or more as she screwed up (and so was DW). She wasn't a network mandate--she was there from the beginning. Plus an excellent voice actress. I think the writers liked the character well enough. She was barely in the recent comics, though, and I barely noticed.

I'd beg to differ about it being behind Rescue Rangers. However, I also hadn't revisited it recently. Furry culture and whatnot being what it is. Still, Jim Cummings is amazing, and I often dig up clips of Fat Cat for the hell of it. He has one of the only villain monologues I can remember from a cartoon of that time. From Adventures in Squirrelsitting:

Quote:

You know, I could corrupt these children. Over the years, I could guide their innocent minds towards a life of wrongdoing. Yes! I could mold them in my image, hone them into criminal GENIUSES, the only ones capable of carrying on my EMPIRE!!!

*sighs*

Ah, but who's got the time? Toss 'em in!

I remember Tale Spin being really good, though. My dad even enjoyed watching it with me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ample Vigour

It's good that today's animators are doing the shows they thought they were watching as kids.

Your inspirations tend to work their way in. With the Disney Afternoon shows we're bringing up, it seemed like the creators of the 80's dug their old adventure pulps and serials. Ducktales is classic treasure hunting and adventure, Talespin is old 30's and 40's aviator stuff, Darkwing Duck gets the Batman comparisons but a lot of its basic concepts are straight from The Shadow.

I remember Tale Spin being really good, though. My dad even enjoyed watching it with me.

Tale Spin is my Platonic Ideal of a Disney cartoon for the whole family, not just the kids. Especially the adult-oriented episodes about Baloo, Becky, or the both of them (though the one where Kit is tricked into a Thembrian flight school is surprisingly awesome too). The multi-part pilot is the best TV Disney has every produced.

Considering that pretty much the only reason Donald didn't have a big role in the Ducktales cartoon was 'cuz Disney was initially averse to handing over the keys to one of its biggest stars* for some newfangled syndicated series, it makes sense that the reboot would give him a much bigger role.

Donald wouldn't be featured so prominently in the promo are if he was just gonna fuck off to the Navy again.

* Remember, the only cartoon show preceding Ducktales was Gummi Bears.

I first saw that art on a tiny phone screen and saw the same thing as Guy and was like "surely not....???", before I zoomed in and saw the grapple. Still kind of surprised they were allowed to make it look so much like a regular gun.